Animation Fundamentals: GEICO Pillsbury Doughboy Commercial
Let’s analyze 3 animation fundamentals by using the GEICO Pillsbury Doughboy commercial. The 3 fundamentals I am going to talk about is squash/stretch, anticipation and follow through.
Squash n Stretch:
The squash and stretch happens in the animations legs and stomach. When the Pillsbury Doughboy feet moves you see the action in his leg than his feet. It happens kinda fast, but the legs gets wider when his foot comeback in contact with the ground. Now if you don’t know this, but the Pillsbury Doughboy trade mark is his laugh and this commercial doesn’t miss a beat. When the actor touches the stomach of the Doughboy his laughter is out of control and you will see a quick ripple effect across the stomach. The impression expand out to the side, linger a little and then and pops back.
Anticipation:
The anticipation action happens when the dough boy is about to received his belly touch. He stand’s there with his arm out and lean in and then back a little as the actor hand move towards him. Theses photos don’t show the action very well. To get a better look at the action, it starts at 15secs .
Follow through:
The action follow through takes place any time the Doughboy hat moves. Let me explain, follow through is another way of say momentum. Its that lag that happens after the objects moves. At times the action is hard to catch it, happens quickly around 16sec, but after that it easy to spot starting 17secs. As the Pillsbury Doughboy walks away humming a tone you will see his hat wiggle all kinds of direction.
All and All, even though there are more animation fundamentals than just these 3, I believe by focusing on just theses 3 animation fundamentals one can have a very effective animation.
